PREVIOUSLY, THE HOUSTON ROCKETS...lost 104-97 at home against the Bulls on Saturday night. The night before that, they beat the Spurs 116-109 in San Antonio. The Rockets have split their last 14 games, rank 15th in the league in pace, 14th in offensive efficiency, and 16th in defensive efficiency. They're fascinating not in their something-other-than-averageness* but that they're average despite having more salary committed to two inactive players than the rest of the roster combined.

*Maybe Trevor Ariza is but that's a fascination with how below average he's been offensively. He's a bad quarter from seeing his TS% drop below Chuck Hayes's.